Digital Dynamic

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Everybody's angry. The Boomers are angry because retirement isn't what they'd hoped. The Gen-X'ers are angry because they'll probably never GET to retire and the Milennials are angry because the world isn't changing fast enough for them .

To the rest of us that refuse to play Generational Dodge Ball it all just looks like whining.

Without casting aspersions on anyone I'm going to attempt to dissect the anger once and for all. At least so far as the millennials and their progenitors.

So here we go.

First of all if you're a Millennial it seems you have a tendency to cherish the frivolous (social media, faux activism, smartphones) while nurturing some misguided fantasy that somehow Gen X ( your parents) fucked up your life for you.

The reality is that we (your parents) couldn't fuck up your life any more than our parents fucked up ours. By the time we started having kids it became blatantly apparent that we'd been sold a bill of goods. Indoctrinated to believe a lie and in the end became the first generation to be worse off than the previous.

Not from being lazy, not from being unmotivated, (even if the boomers said we were) but from having to unlearn all the BS we were taught by "the Boomers" because it just didn't work anymore.
Their lessons worked in their world and we thought they would work in ours. At least that was what we believed.

That's why the 80's were such a party. We'd have our fun, grow our hair long, fear the bomb all with the expectation that we'd eventually settle into our parent's lives.

Ronald Reagan would take care of everything at the tip of gun barrel while U2 provided our social conscience.

We were totally unprepared for the world we inherited once the veil was pulled back. We found that our primary role wasn't to pick up where our parent's left off but rather to fund their retirement.

We had to learn everything over again and fast. Nothing we knew could be trusted so we threw out everything we'd learned and started from ground zero.

That included what the meaning of what work was. Extending even into relationships and parenting.

Everything was suspect and up for grabs. If what we were taught was a lie then we had to start from scratch. That's where all the helicopter parenting and t-ball participation trophies came from. We didn't have a fucking clue but we had to try.
So sorry if we loved you too much but the baby got thrown out with the bathwater in the process.

We tried to shield you from the waterfall of bullshit that came down on our heads. Oceans of lies surging toward a day of reckoning not of our own making.
You say you save more? Good, but do you know why you can when you're working for shit wages? It's because we're still shouldering most of the bills and will till we croak.

If you think we're sitting fat and happy you're wrong. We've just learned to appreciate having less being better than having nothing at all.

Most of us will die working in debt thanks to an economic and political system so corrupt as to define a few lines on a piece of paper as "a person"AKA: Corporations. I suppose they meet the criteria. They devour everything the shit all over everybody.

We live in an economy predicated on debt. You make just enough to stay indentured and no more.

Credit is a necessity because your wages will never keep up with your basic needs.
How many people do you know of yours or the previous generation that could save enough money to buy a house or even a car for cash? Boomers and their parents could still save for such things but it's impossible for those that came after. If you saved it meant something got shorted.

So who did that? Hint: it wasn't ANY generation, it's about greed and subjugation. No tinfoil hat, just follow the bread crumbs and you see how we got here.
We're the ones that said it wasn't about "25 years and the gold watch" Don't let any boomer tell you different. They had their choices, ours were forced on us by the situation. We did the best we could with the crap we were served and tried to not dump it on you. I see this blame game BS and all I can think is that you guys better wake up. Your return to "traditional values" isn't going to work because it's not 1965 anymore.

And frankly, we're tired of hearing it.
Nobody owes you a damned thing or us either for that matter.Even the Boomers I work with every day are learning that.

I currently work in a place whose average demographic is upwards of 55 years. It's not that unusual either. Everyone's in the shitter now.

That's our world and if all you want to do is blame or try to resurrect a defunct fantasy it's not going to get any better.

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Say what you will about the American political process but the fact remains that in this country we are free to throw the baby out with the bathwater.Or swear one in...As my weary eyes strained to remain open that gloomy Friday morning, I watched the inauguration or should I say the coronation of now President Trump.As the rain fell on a dreary Friday afternoon in Washington, the bible wasn't even cold as the newly anointed President Trump delivered red meat to rabid supporters. A scene worthy of any "El Presidente'" dictator complete with clenched fist and "America First" exclamations. Claims of "the largest inauguration turnout ever!" denied by oceans of whitespace on the National Mall flickering across America's TV screens like some surreal CUT without the requisite PASTE.The weekend found blistering retorts of "The Media" for "misreporting" of the inauguration turnout from Trump's proxy mouthpiece Sean Spicer. Soon followed by damage control from Campaign Manager turned Propaganda Minister Kellyanne Conway who explained "Shotgun Spicer's" outburst as nothing more than "Alternative Facts."Saturday found Trump galloping over to the CIA , entourage in tow, to express his undying love and admiration for the organization he maligned just a week earlier. Interspersed with his adoration, thinly veiled threats to fall in line along with the suggestion of a new mission. CIA, KGB, hell, why not...That was followed up on Tuesday with news that the EPA has been officially "silenced" leaving Global Warming activists scrambling to back up government data that provided evidence of the phenomenon's legitimacy. Data that was very much in jeopardy as Trump began his work to remake government in his own image.Another stroke of the pen among many found new life for the Keystone XL and Dakota pipeline projects. Worsening fears ever more realized.The hits just keep coming with the latest the claim that "3 to 5 million votes" were cast illegally ultimately costing him the popular vote. No evidence was offered for this opinion other than Trump's own narcissism. There's more to come but in less than a week Trump has managed to threaten or overturn every policy of his predecessor while alienating U.S. allies and silencing any government agency that may have evidence to contradict his whims.Let's not forget the cabinet, A Secretary of State plucked from the executive suite of Exxon, Rex Tillerson. A man unapologetically cozy with Russian Dictator Vladmir Putin with a history of working against his own country's interest in favor of his own.Or Betsy DeVoss, pick for Education Secretary. A woman with no education background, an active supporter of charter schools over public schools and a stakeholder in a student debt collection agency. Perhaps the most laughable of picks, Rick Perry for Energy Secretary. A man who once promised to eliminate the department he's been picked to lead. A man who up to a week ago wasn't aware that his department was in charge of the U.S. nuclear weapons program.There's more to come in Trump's Kangaroo Cabinet as well as such gems as his pick for FCC Chairman Ajit Pai an enemy of Net Neutrality and government regulation of public airwaves. Nice....There's a pattern here as plain as the plaid on a Grunge band's shirts.Does this sound like the ramblings of a "Butt-Hurt Libtard?"Maybe to the less than 30% of the country that still supports Trump. If, however, you have any sense of history it should be obvious that the actions of Trump are not those of a thoughtful man concerned with country but rather with self promotion.The swipes at the press, cabinet picks the antithesis of their office, a muzzling of contradiction no matter how valid. These are more than just the actions of a President setting a tone early in his tenure. It's the foundation of something far more dangerous. This is the President that would be king.

That protests took place during the inauguration, that the streets were empty as Trump's motorcade went by and that women all over the country marched in opposition to him the next day cannot be dismissed unless you just don't care to know.Do you care to know? Or is your patriotism limited to a hat....